JOINT STATEMENT Ensuring a gender-responsive Corporate Sustainability Due Diligence legislation
POLICY BRIEF 6 March 2023
Dear President of the European Commission Ursula von der Leyen, Entreprises et droits humains : Dear Vice-President Vera Jourová, La Tunisie doitThierry se saisir pleinement des instruments internationaux Dear Commissioner Breton, Dear Commissioner Helena Dalli, Dear Commissioner Didier Reynders, Dear Members of Parliament, Dear Council of the European Union Representatives, In the lead up to International Women’s Day, we want to remind you that corporate accountability is a women’s rights issue, and EU legislation, including the Corporate Sustainability Due Diligence Directive (CSDDD), needs to reflect this. On International Women’s Day, we pay tribute to all the women, girls and gender nonconforming people who defend human rights and the environment. Those who fight against discrimination, inequality and gender-based violence in the workplace and protect environmental, land and Indigenous Peoples’ rights in the context of business activities. Pollution, land grabbing, the exploitation of workers and violence against human rights defenders all have different and disproportionate effects on women and groups facing marginalisation. Any legislative initiative that attempts to regulate business conduct must address such gendered and intersecting impacts,1 especially considering that in many sectors, such as textiles and agriculture, women make up the majority of the workforce.2 Many women are further discriminated against based on intersecting identities such as age, class, ethnicity, caste, migration status, gender identity, faith, sexual orientation and/or other factors. Genderresponsive due diligence rules and access to justice are urgently needed to properly address these deep-seated inequalities. The CSDDD presents a key opportunity to advance women’s rights and gender equality incompanies’ international value chains, and for the EU to act on its commitment ActionAid, Ensuring a gender-responsive and effective Corporate Sustainability Due Diligence Legislation in Ten Steps, 2022, https://actionaid.org/publications/2022/ensuring-gender-responsive-and-effective-corporateduediligence-legislation-10. 2 2 ActionAid ‘We mean business’, 2020 https://actionaid.nl/wp-content/uploads/2020/02/We-MeanBusinessProtecting-Womens-Rights-in-Global-Supply-Chains_ActionAid_March-2020.pdf; Oxfam, Not in this together, 2021 https://oxfamilibrary.openrepository.com/bitstream/handle/10546/621194/bp-not-in-this-together220621- en.pdf?sequence=22; Clean Clothes Campaign, Fashioning justice, 2021, https://cleanclothes.org/news/2021/fashioning-justice. 1